Typically in a brick producing operation, brick slugs are cut from an elongated extrusion, and transferred by an off bearing belt to an area where the brick slugs are cut to form individual bricks and the cut bricks are accumulated and then stacked onto a kiln car for drying and firing. In some instances, the extrusion is cut by a reel cutter while being transferred on the off bearing belt, and in other cases the extrusion is cut into slugs and the slugs are discharged from the off bearing belt and pushed through a wire bank cutter, An example of a conventional brick hacking and stacking operation is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,478,397.
One principal concern in designing brick hacking machinery is to provide a method and machine that has relatively high capacity. In the past, certain approaches have been undertaken to increase the capacity of brick hacking machines. For example, one approach has been to provide means for double stacking respective slugs on an off bearing belt prior to discharging the slugs from the off bearing belt through a wire bank cutting assembly. Another method is one such as that shown in our co-pending patent application, U.S. Patent Application Ser. No. 854,150, filed Nov. 23, 1977, now abandoned wherein brick slugs are discharged in single high course fashion from an off bearing belt and are directed through a wire bank cutter, after which the cut bricks are accumulated on a receiving table. An intermediate stacking elevator assembly is utilized to receive rows of cut brick from the receiving table and to stack the same brick in a two course high stack adjacent the stacking elevator opposite the receiving table. Bricks are allowed to accumulate to form a certain size two course high stack, after which a conventional head gripper assembly is utilized a grip the two course high stack and to transfer the same onto a kiln car.
While various approaches to increasing capacity of brick hacking machinery have been tried, many such approaches have involved complicated, expensive, and even sometimes unreliable machines. There still exists today the need for a high capacity, efficient, effective brick hacking machine and method that is simple and inexpensive, and which is adaptable to other conventional brick producing machinery used in the total brick producing operation.